Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-05-26
Another Fraud upon Farmers.

Another Fraud upon Farmers.
This time it is the "wire fence man."
lie calls upon farmer, to ask of him |
permission to exhibit to the farmers Of |
the vicinity his new fence-wire stretch |
er, upon his farm. In consideration |
for this privilege he will build for the |
farmer thirty or forty rods of good |
fence, wherever he may want it. All |
that he asks of the farmer is to board |
him, to go for the machine at the depot |
and pay the charges on the machine,
not over three dollars. In order to
have it all understood, the farmer is
asked to sign contract to the above
thing. written OH q postal-card, which
the fence-man mails to his partner.
After the machine arrives, new man
turns up, to demand $500, the price of
the machine The farmer then learns
to his establishment, the contract for
board, ETC., that he thought he was
signing, was really an order for the ma
chine, at the price of $500. This last
conner claims to be the attorney for the
company making the machine, and by
threats of bringing a suit in the l. ).
Court, forces some kind of settle
ment Of his fraudulent claim. Our in
juction needs repeating once more:
Specialties in Flowers
Many of those who have little flower
gardens, especially if they are tenants
and likely TO move, rely upon annual
plants to furnish their decoration and
to yield cut flowers. In the early
spring they consult the catalogues for
the novelties and purchase a collection
of the seeds of those things which are
highly recommended, of course taking
care to provide good share of those
sufficiently tested to be regarded as
"stand-bys." Such a garden will be
satisfactory i'll proportion to the judg-
ment displayed in the selection. have
often thought how much more satisfac-
ton the owner of such garden would
derive from it, were he to take some
particular flower and see what he could
do i'll the way of improving 1T. OF
course, as such experiments in culture
are not often snowy, he should provide
enough well-known plants to keep the
garden gay and to provide an abund-
ance for those who wish for cut flow
ers; but let the main object of his gard
ening be to ascertain what he can do in
improving the plant he has selected for
the purpose.
That will depend upon ones taste;
he will be much more likely TO work
faithfully and patiently with plant
he already likes, than with one he dis
likes, than with one that is stranger
to him. Besides, plant that has al
ready shown disposition to form va
rieties will be more likely to give re-
suits than one that has not yet "broken"
as the gardeners say, which means that
it has shown no tendency to depart
from its regular type or form.
MIX Tests.
The only system yet suggested which
bids fair to be of practicable applica-
ton in creameries, for the frequent or
even daily testing of milk brought in
by many producers, and for the daily
testing of the milk of each COW of a
herd, if this be desired, is that by means
of an oil-test churn. This apparatus
consists of many glass tubes of the
same size, into each of which an equal
quantity of milk is placed, filling the
tubes half to two-thirds full. The
tubes are set upright for the cream to
rise: then they stand at temperature
of sixty-flve degrees or over, until in
cipient souring comes on, when the
for churnng. Then all the tubes, or
as we may now call them, little churns,
are laid upon their sides or fastened in
frames. and violently shaken in ma
chine made for the purpose, until it is
evident that all the cream has be churn-
ed into butter. This done, the frames
are removed, and, being placed in wa
ter heated to about 140 degrees, the but
ter melts to a limpid oil, which, upon
cooling-the tubes standing perfectly
upright may be easily measured, and
will show with considerable accuracy
the relative amount of butter in the
different samples. 1t is clear that by
this process the milk of one day can be
reported upon one or two days there
after, and as only very small quantity
of milk is required, no loss can be rec
koned from this cause. Only double
or triple sst of tubes is needed to test
the milk of every producer every day
With skill, attained by practice. even
with the rather crude apparatus which
has been used. quite satisfactory results
have been secured. The oil-test churn
now in its infancy, promises to be an
exceedingly valuable aid to breeders
and cow-keepers, as well as to those
who buy milk and cream, in enabling
them to determine the amount of fat,
the most valuable constituent of milk,
in different samples. Agri-
culturist.
Origin of Soils.
All soils are composed of materials
which once formed parts of rocks.
Different kinds of rocks, when broken
down as they have been by the action
of water, frost and sunshine, produce
different kinds Of soils, but all ordinary
rocks and soils contain these and other
essential constituents, Some rocks are
hard and are acted upon by the wea-
Their very slowly, even when broken
down into particles fine enough to be
called soil. Other rocks are easily act
ed upon, and yield up their ingredients
readily for the plants Thus, soils differ
greatly in their natural capabilities.
| There are many means by which avail
able and essential constituents of plant
| food may be increased and made solu-
BILE. One is the action of frost. If we
take handful of pebbles and wash
them most thoroughly, and then rinse
them i'm distilled water, which If evap-
Grated will leave no residum, and then
place them in distilled water, which If
evaporated will leave no residum, and
| then place them i'm clean saucer or
sOup-plate, also washed and rinsed in
distilled water, and finally place this,
half full of the same absolutely pure
water and covered by q pane Of glass,
where il will freeze at night and thaw
| by day for week we shall find, If we
| take out the stones and evaporate the
,yatar thof tho wafar Inns diocn1yad a